The Great East London Brewery Crawl truly began after the London Brewers’ Market. See here and here for how that went down. If you haven’t read those, here’s some background: I was hungover, we made some pretty terrible beer choices, and neither Kamala and I pulled punches when discussing how terrible those choices were.

It gets better, at least slightly. At One Mile End, housed in the White Hart pub in Whitechapel, we go so distracted by food and the friends we made at the table opposite that I forgot to note down most of Kamala’s scores and Kamala forgot to make any comments about the taste of one of the beers. Plus there was some past trauma to contend with.

L-R: Hospital Porter, Saison Royale, Directorate

The Beers

Hospital Porter

Julie: Very strong coffee notes, but still relatively light and has a nice flavour. I like it, but it’s not my ideal beer. 6/10

Kamala: Relative fizz, not flat like other porters I’ve tried, which makes it feel light.

Saison Royale

J: Nice and light and fruity. Very easy to drink – not too flat, not too strong, not too bitter, but still has some depth and flavour. 8/10

K: Why are all the British beers sounding so French? What would Nigel Farage say? Another reason to leave the EU? [Disclaimer: Kamala is not, to my knowledge, anti-French or pro-UKIP. I think the Directorate may have been to blame for these comments.]

Directorate

J: Oh, we have made a grave mistake. If you like bourbon you should drink this because it tastes of bourbon. Just bourbon. Ugh. 1/10

K: Oh lord, what have we done? This is the Donald Trump of the beer world. 1/10 at a push.

Ambience

J: Nice pub, but it feels more like a traditional pub than a brewpub, and I prefer the brewery vibe as a rule. The bartender also wasn’t particularly knowledgeable about the beers (although she did try to warn us off the Directorate, so maybe I should forgive her). Really good beer range though. 6/10

K: I got my bag stolen here so I had to get over the initial fear. 6/10